A reader asked about my biscuit recipes. She also wondered if our biscuits are like plain scones in England and I really don’t know so if any of you know, can you please post the difference in our biscuits and plain English scones.
I have several favorite biscuit recipes I use and they’re all a bit different. A lot depends on what I have on hand to make them. I
The recipe I used yesterday was Easy Homemade Biscuits. This recipe calls for buttermilk. I sometimes have fresh buttermilk but always have buttermilk powder. I also always have milk kefir. I will use fresh buttermilk, buttermilk powder or milk kefir . . whatever I have or whatever is handy and I never notice much difference in the biscuits.
Another favorite is Blake’s Biscuits.
This recipe calls for Pioneer Baking Mix, which I don’t always have. It also calls for sour cream, which I often have but it calls for 1 cup of sour cream, which I usually don’t have. I’ve subbed yogurt or mixed yogurt and sour cream when I have plain yogurt. It also calls for Half & Half, which I rarely have. We use raw milk fresh from the dairy farmer so I strain off the cream and always have cream. This recipe takes a lot of tweaking since I so rarely have all the ingredients needed but these are mighty fine biscuits.
If you’re a sourdough baker, we love these Sourdough Biscuits.
Cream Biscuits are easy to make. They only require self rising flour and heavy cream.
As I was writing this post, I was thinking I would mention which ones are our favorites but I think these are all delicious and couldn’t even choose a favorite. It truly depends on what I have on hand as to what recipe I make.
Elaine says
Thank you Judy, yes they would be a type of scone – English tend not to be so heavy on the salt or sugar as the easy homemade biscuits but there are several variations of scones around – I love the cheese ones made to Nigel Slater’s recipe. I’ll give some of these a try, expand my baking repertoire. I also love Moira Blackburn’s samplers – I’m working on Oak Tree and also Season and Time. I have the Green Tree one also, but I’m going to change that somewhat. Elaine
judy.blog@gmail.com says
Thanks for the info. I have made scones but it’s been years ago and who knows if the recipe I followed was authentic. I’ll check out Nigel Slater’s recipe and try them. Thanks. As far as I know, this is the only Moira Blackburn chart I have but I will look at others. Thanks for that recommendation also.
justquiltin says
To me, scones tend to be of a dryer consistency /more dense inside than our biscuits. My favorite place (no longer in business) used to make the best orange scones with chocolate chunks in them. I’ve been trying to perfect my own version of them but it’s not quite there yet. I haven’t made them for a while so I may have to make some for my Christmas morning treat.
judy.blog@gmail.com says
I would like the orange part but not the chocolate. I’m wanting to try some scones too.
Becky in WA says
To me, English plain scones (as opposed to American scones) have a finer texture and are a bit sweeter than biscuits. Biscuits can be eaten with jam, but often are eaten with savory foods, even covered in gravy, which you’d never do with a scone. But I live in the Pacific Northwest so biscuits here may be different than Southern style.
Cindy F says
I always thought English scones were somewhat sweeter than biscuits. In Utah though, scones are a totally different thing! It’s more of a sweet dough, flattened and fried like what’s known as a Navaho taco then topped with honey butter or sweetened fruit. It’s delicious but not a true scone. Thanks for the link to the biscuits. My family and I love those Blake biscuits but like you I don’t always have the sour cream and Pioneer baking mix on hand. One of these days I’m going to order some White Lily flour as some southern purists say you can’t make a real southern biscuit without it…lol
Susan says
The only scones I have to compare to are from Panera, and they are definitely sweeter than biscuits, and I wouldn’t put gravy on them ever! I’ve seen the scone recipes from a friend in Australia, and hers always have something sweet in them like raisins, blueberries, citrus, raspberries – in the dough, not jam spread on them, but they can have jam or clotted cream, too. It’s probably what someone is used to from any part of the U. S. or any part of the UK whether they would be similar or not. It’s like potato salad, no one makes it the same way!
judy.blog@gmail.com says
I don’t eat gravy with my biscuits bit I know for a southern girl, I’m in the minority.